The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1887-05-07
AN IMPENDING ev,L.
Observations Upon the Annual Decrease
In the Number OF Marriages.

upon Nne AhIuai DGcftASS
In the Number OF Marriages.
A social reformer. who is as precise
In his statements of facts rs he is expert
in the manipulation of figures, reports
as the result of the investigation that
the number of marriages is decreasing
every year. We have just cause for
alarm if the report is true. Certainly
the choice of wife is a subject full nf
piquaut attraction 10 \ romantic young
man who has sown his wild oats and is
saving his earnings and longs for the
comfort and slippered ease of home
of his own. The difficulties of court
ship, however. are perplexing, arduous
and real In Knickerbocker times the
knot was securely tied after a bluff
proposal and the young married couple
were ready to start housekeeping with
a barrel of potatoes, blunderbuss and
a family Bible. Then life was idyllic
and full of romance and song. But
Temporal msItdatur and they change for
the worse, in most respects. No longer
do the married pair hutter through
life on wings of romance. The chief
bond of interest that unite young lovers
in this mercenary age is Government
four percent The domestic tie is so elias
tic, divorces so easily procurable, the
feminine heart Is so tickle withal, that
eligible young men feel morbidly shy
about exposing themselves to the mat
rimonial moose and would rs soon
think of slipping a halter around the
neck.
The rule of woman in masculine at
tire and common sense shoes is not a
pleasant spectacle To contemplate. But
if the girls of the Republic are not mar
ried off in some way, old maids of the
most virulent type, in various stages of
physical decline, will be elamoring for
their rights with exceeding vigor and
persistency, and who knows whether
there will be enough green tea and
scandal left TO go around2 Already
the census table shows depiorable iu-
crease in their number. They are or
ganizing crusades against the mos,
cherished institutions of mankind.
If for no other reasons than the above.
human ingenuity should devise some
method of facilitating proposals and
tightening the love knot so there can
be no escape. Cynics scof at the mar
ital relations. Idle fiirtations are de
! stroying the confidence of young peo-
pie of romantic temperament in one
another. Sir George Campbell has en-.
deavored to prove that there is no suel
thing rs love; that it is a psychological
delusion. So long as these ideas pre-
vail. no easy-going youth will feel lik,
sacrificing the frolic and fun of Bo
hernia for the martyfdom of the do
nestle circle. But legislation can rec
rifv the evil. The lawmakers shoul,
take the matter in hand. They car
make courtship a civic duty which III,
individual owes to society, and enforc
it by law. We're men who persist il
remaining single disfranchised and Iii
vested of their property, and wer'
women who refused 10 marry shut ul
in converts and denied access to tn
fashion magazines, the aggressive typ
of maiden lady who delights in agitai
/ ing social and political reforms, woul,
gradually disappear and an ominou
evil would be averted. an evil that al
sensible people would seriously deplore
Harold Van SGntrOord. ia Life.